As Blackpink, Exo’s Baekhyun and Japan’s Nizi all top charts and break world records, K-pop’s global dominance is officially complete

Jul 7 , 2020

It’s official: Blackpink break records with the most successful single from a K-pop group. Photo: @blackpinkofficial/Instagram

Once dismissed as a passing fad, these three new chart-topping releases prove once and for all that K-pop will be a culture-shaping international force to be reckoned with for years to come

The “big 3” K-pop companies, YG, SM and JYP, are enjoying an era of previously unimaginable success, with Korean idols now conquering charts not just at home, but all around the world. For years now the hallyu wave has been growing but, once dismissed as a passing fad, it’s now clear that K-pop will be a culture-shaping force to be reckoned with for years to come – as these three recent chart-topping and record-breaking achievements prove.

Blackpink breaks Guinness World Records with How You Like That

K-pop phenomenon Blackpink has collected several Guinness World Records titles with its new song How You Like That. Released on June 26, the song and its music video created an unprecedented buzz around the world, garnering 86.3 million views on YouTube within its first day live.

That figure earned the quartet's music video the following world records: “Most viewed YouTube video in 24 hours”, “Most viewed music video on YouTube in 24 hours” and “Most viewed YouTube music video in 24 hours by a K-pop group”. The track surpasses previous record holder BTS, which won the same titles with its music video Boy With Luv in April 2019.

Blackpink’s members – Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé and Lisa – also presented a grand YouTube premiere of the song on the day of its release, which alone clocked a total of 1.66 million live viewers that Guinness World Records revealed set another two records for the group: “Most viewers for the premiere of a video on YouTube” and “Most viewers for the premiere of a music video on YouTube”.

How You Like That is the group’s first pre-release single from its first full-length studio album, currently untitled and set for release in September.

This article originally appeared on Korea Times

Baekhyun's solo album sells over 1 million copies

K-pop juggernaut Exo’s Baekhyun is the first solo artist since 2001 to sell over a million albums, achieving the feat with his second solo outing “Delight”. It had sold about 1.02 million copies by the end of June, since hitting the shelves on May 25 – the highest sales for a solo artist since singer-songwriter Kim Gun-mo's 2001 album “Another Days”, which sold 1.3 million copies.